Mother
by SkyGem
Summary: In which Lavina Gokudera isn't dead, and Hayato learns that his father wasn't the only one of his parents that was rich. Slightly late mother's day fic. Family fluff. Two-shot.
1. Changed

Summary: In which Lavina Gokudera isn't dead, and Hayato learns that his father wasn't the only one of his parents that was rich. Slightly late mother's day fic. Family fluff. Two-shot.

Disclaimer: I don't own KHR.

* * *

The normally very sweet and gentle youngest child of the Gokudera family, Lavina, screamed her outrage at the one man she'd always thought she could trust, her older brother.

"I can't _believe_ you never told me this!" she yelled at him, tears flowing onto her flushed cheeks. "TEN YEARS! You've been keeping this from me for ten years!"

"It was for your own good, Lavina," he replied. "That man caused you nothing but heart ache while you knew him. When you lost your memories in that accident, it was a chance for you to start over, and I didn't want that chance to go to waste."

"But what about my _**son**_? Did you ever think about him?" she enquired, her voice slightly hysteric at the thought of what could have happened to her son these past ten years.

"He has his father to take care of him," replied her brother with a slight sneer; obviously, he didn't have a very good opinion of her ex-lover.

"But what if something had happened to him? What if he needed me?" asked Lavina, her mouth quivering. "I…I need to see him…I need my baby…"

The head of the Gokudera looked at his very much upset younger sister and felt the sight pulling at his heartstrings.

With a sigh of defeat, he said, "I'm sorry for keeping this from you. Would you like me to arrange for you to meet your son?"

* * *

As Lavina walked through the streets of Namimori, she felt her heart thudding in her chest, her palms sweaty as if she were a nervous little schoolgirl off to see her crush.

Her son would be sixteen-years-old by now.

'_What is he like?_' she couldn't help but wonder. _'Is he like his father? Or did he take after my side of the family?'_

The woman was so caught up in thoughts of what her son might have grown up to be like that she almost didn't hear her aforementioned son shouting profanities and beating up a man easily twice his age, cowering on the ground in front of him.

Catching a glimpse of silky silver hair, the young mother turned in the direction of what she had just realized was a very loud and very violent display.

"I'll make you wish you were never born, scum," hissed the irate teenager, and Lavina felt her heart skip a beat at the sudden wave of familiarity that washed over her.

Standing there watching the boy beating up the man cowering before him, Lavina felt her heart shatter into a million pieces.

She would recognize that face anywhere.

But it had changed so much from the last time she'd seen it.

Those beautiful eyes, once shining with intelligence and love and happiness were now hardened with suffering and hate.

Those smooth, nimble fingers of his were now crisscrossed with scars.

That once innocent smile had changed to a fearful grimace.

What on Earth had happened to her precious little baby?

"_Hayato_! Stop it!" called a voice, and Lavina turned to look at who had spoken; a boy with soft chocolate brown locks and eyes of the same hue. "You're going to kill him!" called the boy in distress.

"He deserves to die," spat Hayato, but stopped nonetheless, drawing back with a scowl on his face.

The man on the ground scrambled to his feet and ran away, not once looking back.

Sending one more glare in the direction of the fleeing man, Hayato turned his attention back to the brunet.

"Are you alright, Juudaime?" asked the silveret, and suddenly, it was as if he were a completely different person. His hands fluttered nervously over his friend, his voice laced with concern. "He didn't hurt you too badly, did he?"

"I'm fine," laughed the brunet, and tried not to flinch when Hayato brushed a gentle hand over a scratch on his cheek.

"Thank goodness," said Hayato, a thoroughly relieved smile gracing his features.

And Lavina felt herself let out a sigh of relief. Perhaps her Hayato hadn't changed so much, if he could smile like that.

The suffering, broken little boy was still there, but he was all but hidden beneath the caring and gentle friend who was worried for his Juudaime.

The brunet smiled back at him. Then, as if he had suddenly sensed her gaze, his gaze flickered over to Lavina, and for a moment, his face was completely emotionless. Then, his eyes widened as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing, his mouth gaping open.

Confused at the sudden loss of his friend's attention, Hayato followed his line of sight, and felt his heart stop at the woman he saw standing in front of him, she looking just as shocked as he felt.

There was a moment of silence before the woman took a slow, hesitant step forward, whispering, "Hayato…"

* * *

SkyGem: Well, there's the first chapter. Sorry it's so short, but I hope you enjoyed it! The next chapter will be out tomorrow! Expect lots of fluff, eh? Oh, and I'm so sorry that I haven't been able to update anything at all lately. It's my senior year, and graduation is coming up, so I haven't had much time to get much of anything done. And it doesn't help that writer's block has been plaguing me for about a month yet. I hope to be able to change that, but who knows, eh? Anyways, please do leave a review and let me know what you thought!


	2. A Lifetime

SkyGem: I'M BAAACK! Who missed me? I'm super sorry for pretty much disappearing this past month. Got caught up with school and life. Anyways, at last, I have finished writing up the next chapter of this fic! I hope it was worth the wait, ne?

* * *

"Hayato…"

His mind running on autopilot, Hayato moved so that he was standing in between his Juudaime and the stranger, his mind rebelling at the sight before him. There was no way in hell this was who he thought it was. She'd died over a decade ago, so that left only one possibility. An imposter. Someone trying to trick him in order to hurt his sky.

Pulling his dynamite from their hiding places, the silveret hissed, "Who are you, and what the hell do you want with us?"

The woman flinched, and Hayato almost felt guilty before viciously reminding himself that this person was his enemy.

"Hayato, you…don't recognize me?" asked the woman, looking hurt.

"I recognize the woman you're impersonating," he retorted coldly, "But there's no way you can be her. My mother died twelve years ago in a car accident!"

Lavina, somewhat shocked that Hayato knew she was his mother, found herself speechless for a moment, casting her gaze to the floor.

Opening her mouth to try and say something, Lavina found she couldn't quite bring to mind the right words, and closed it without saying anything.

Trying again, she simply settled for, "My brother saved me; he took care of me, nursed me back to health. I…I would have come for you, but I injured my head in the accident and lost my memories…"

There was a snort at this, and a cold voice saying, "Well, isn't that convenient?"

Looking up, her mouth already open to explain, Lavina didn't have time to get even a word out of her mouth before the brunet accompanying her son interrupted.

"She's telling the truth."

Hayato's head whipped around, staring at his friend with eyes as wide as saucers, and Lavina felt hope flare in her chest.

"But Juudaime-"

"I know it doesn't seem possible, Hayato, but it's true. I'm certain of it."

Hayato's eyes flickered over to her for the quickest of seconds before fixing themselves once more on his friend.

Smiling gently at Hayato, the brunet gently took his arm and led him closer to Lavina, allowing her to get a better look at the boy she hadn't seen in over a decade.

When they were only a few steps away from her, they stopped, and the boy dropped Hayato's arm so that he could bow properly.

"I apologize for the harsh welcome. My name is Sawada Tsunayoshi, and I'm a close friend of your son's. It's a pleasure to meet you, Gokudera-san."

"Gokudera Lavina," said Lavina by way of introduction, though he probably already knew it. "Thank you for looking after my son."

Tsuna smiled at this before saying, "Would you like to come to my house, Gokudera-san? It's closer than Hayato's apartment, and I'm sure kaa-san wouldn't mind having one more face at the dinner table."

Lavina, unsure how to reply to that, looked over at Hayato for a second before nodding in acceptance, saying, "Thank you for the invitation, Tsunayoshi-kun."

And at this, Tsuna's polite smile became slightly more relaxed, and he said, "You can just called me Tsuna. Everyone else does."

Lavina nodded in reply to this, feeling a smile creep onto her face in reply.

The short walk back to the Sawada household was rather quiet, with Tsuna leading a still quiet Hayato on his right, and a nervous Lavina on his left. The atmosphere would probably have been rather tense, if Tsuna hadn't filled the silence with meaningless chatter, asking Lavina about where she lived, what her life was like, telling her stories about her son.

Before she even knew it, the three of them had arrived at a rather cozy little house with a nameplate stating it belonged to the Sawada family.

Lavina couldn't help the smile that came to her face the moment the door opened to the chaos inside the house.

The sound of laughing children was the most prominent, and just seconds after they had stepped over the threshold, Tsuna was tackled by two seven-year-olds.

"Dame-Tsuna's finally home!" yelled one of them, a young boy in a cow suit, his curly hair styled into an afro.

Both children who had attached themselves to Tsuna immediately began relaying a story to him in urgent voices, each of them trying to convince Tsuna that they were in the right and that the other should be dreadfully punished.

Letting out a sigh of exasperation, Tsuna told the two to be quiet for just a second and was immediately obeyed.

Looking towards a staircase that led to the upper level of the house, Tsuna opened his mouth as if to shout something up, but stopped when what looked to be a three-year-old in a suit and fedora appeared at the top.

"Your bedroom has already been vacated."

Nodding and throwing a smile at the child, Tsuna looked back at Hayato and Lavina, saying, "Hayato, you know the way to my room. I'll have someone call you two down when it's time for dinner, ne?"

Tsuna only waited until he'd gotten a nod of understanding from Hayato before turning back to the two seven-year-olds waiting patiently for him to finish.

Herding the two children into the kitchen, he cheerfully greeted whoever was in there.

Hayato looked after him for a moment before turning to look at Lavina, gesturing for her to follow him.

Lavina followed him, feeling the atmosphere slowly becoming more awkward now that Tsuna wasn't there to fill the silence.

Within moments, they were in a bedroom, the door closing behind them, and Lavina was taking a seat on a bed that was unnaturally neat for a teenage boy.

Pulling the computer chair so that it was situated in front of the bed, Hayato gingerly sat down and then finally, finally turned his eyes to his mother, his heart threatening to burst out of his chest.

The two stared at each other in silence for a few moments, each trying to come up with a way to break the silence.

In the end, Lavina first to speak, saying, "You've grown a lot."

Hayato continued staring at her wordlessly for a moment before a small smile tugged at his lips and his eyes grew bright with unshed tears.

"I missed you."

* * *

Bianchi looked up from where she'd been helping Nana prepare dinner (she was actually a rather good cook, once she'd learned to control her poison cooking) when Tsuna walked in with Lambo and I-Pin clinging to him.

"So what's the big deal?" she asked, referring to how Takeshi and Ryohei had been kicked out of his room just minutes before he and Hayato had arrived back home after the errand Nana had sent them on.

Ruffling Fuuta's hair as he passed the eleven-year-old where he sat at the table doing homework, Tsuna he smiled brightly at her and said, "Lavina-san is alive and will be having dinner with us tonight.

It took Bianchi a moment to register what the young brunet had said, and when she did, she was completely speechless.

After a minute or so of gaping, she finally asked, "And you're sure it's her?"

Tsuna nodded.

There was another moment of silence before Bianchi nodded, trying to calm the racing of her heart, and decided to wait until she knew more of the situation before deciding whether or not to tell her father.

Throwing her one last smile, Tsuna went out into the living room to explain the situation to the rest of his guardians.

* * *

It wasn't hard, really, taking that one last step, allowing himself to believe that yes, it really was his mother in front of him, and no, she wasn't ever going to leave him again.

And when he rose shakily to his feet and took the step that brought him in front of her, she looked up at him with eyes that were the mirror image of his, and smiled that sweet smile he remembered so well.

Reaching out to take his hand, Lavina gently tugged him forward, and he fell gracelessly onto the bed beside her.

"I missed you too," she said in a voice barely above a whisper, drawing him into her arms.

Hayato's first instinct was to stiffen upon the contact, but once his brain had caught up with his body, he immediately felt himself relax into the embrace, bringing his arms up to return it.

Burying his face into her shoulder, Hayato found he couldn't hold back the tears that were threatening to escape. For ten years, he had been craving this, thinking he'd never have it, and now that he did, he found it was so much better than he could have ever imagined.

Lavina didn't say anything, merely rubbing soothing circles into her son's back, and for a long time, the only sounds were Hayato's quiet sobs.

When the younger of the two finally found he had grown tired of crying, he stopped, but kept his head buried in his mother's shoulder.

The two sat in silence for a few moments before Lavina said, "You've made some good friends."

Hayato smiled a watery smile at this, hidden though it was, and replied in a voice muffled by clothing, "The very best. I don't know where I would be without him."

Genuinely interested in hearing the story, Lavina asked, "How did you meet him?"

And for the next half hour or so, Hayato told his mother about _everything._ About how he'd found out who she was, about running away from home, about living on the streets and having to resort to some things he really wasn't proud of in order to survive, about meeting and training under Shamal, and about being called to Japan by the future Vongola Decimo's tutor.

All throughout, Lavina listened quietly except for the occasional sound of concern or reprimand, or the giggles that inevitably escaped her every time Hayato went on another of his "Juudaime is amazing" rants.

In fact, he was in the middle of one of these when there came a knock on the door, and someone called, "Bakaderaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Dame-Tsuna says it's time for dinneeeeeer!"

Tamping down his urge to shout profanities back at the annoying little cow, Hayato looked back at his mother, a question in his eyes.

"Let's go down, ne? After all, we have a whole lifetime to catch up."

* * *

SkyGem: YAY! It's done! I hope minna-san enjoyed this, and please do leave one more review letting me know what you thought, ne? Ja!


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